Christmas Days
by AccessBlade
Summary: It's Christmas time in Terresia but it's own personal protector has no idea just what that is. Watch as she's dragged around, lectured to, and works hard to find the perfect gifts for everyone she knows!
1. Chapter 1

**Well, since it's the season I decided to do a Christmas themed fanfiction. I hope you all enjoy it!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of the World or any of the Tales series characters in this story. I only own Altheria. **

**

* * *

Chapter One  
**

"What's going on?" Altheria's eyes were wide with wonder as she stared at the scene in front of her.

For one of the rarer moments of his life, her flying companion Mormo was speechless as he gazed in amazement as well. They were in Ailily's plaza and right in front of them was a tree. A huge tree. Not as big as Terresia's World Tree, but bigger than Altheria and much bigger than Mormo.

"Uh... is there some kind of special occasion going on?" The flying cat companion said once he snapped out of his stupor.

Altheria blinked. "I don't know. Maybe. Everyone else seems to be dressed like it."

The Yaoon Descender scanned the plaza and saw what his friend was talking about. There weren't many, but several of the town's inhabitants wore red hats. The red hats had a white fluffy tassel attached to its end and a white furry band wrapped around the hat that fit snugly over one's forehead.

"Well... we're not going to find out by just standing around." Mormo shivered and then sneezed. "Achoo! Come on, let's go back to the guild. It's freezing!"

Altheria frowned as she realized that Ailily was much colder since she last visited. Her duty as the Descender of Terresia and a member of Ad Libitum took her to places far and wide, but she always had time to stop by and visit her friends. She looked up at the tree again, noticing that it was decorated by a mirage of colorful objects.

"What's with all the stuff?" She said before following her partner.

**********

When the two Descenders entered the guild, it was pure pandemonium.

Arche and Chester were at each others throats in a screaming match, Reid was eating something, and Genis and Raine. Meanwhile, Kanonno and Lloyd were working together and decorating a much smaller tree than the one in the plaza.

Altheria blinked before directing her attention towards Arche and Chester.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU!" The pink haired spell caster screeched. "I ASK YOU TO BUY ME FIVE MEASLY ITEMS FOR CHRISTMAS AND YOU CAN'T EVEN DO THAT??!"

_'Christmas?' _Altheria cocked her head to the side.

"'MEASLY?!'" Chester repeated. "ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW RIDICULOUSLY EXPENSIVE THESE THINGS ARE?! AND MOST PEOPLE GET ONLY ONE GIFT PER PERSON! NOT FIVE! YOU'RE SO GREEDY!"

"GREEDY?!"

On the other side of the room...

"And just why am I not allowed to help cook Genis Sage?" The Ailily Ad Libitum guild receptionist fumed at her brother.

"Because you'd probably end up poisoning everyone if I let you!" Her brother shouted back.

"Well why don't you just give me a chance?"

"No!"

"QUIET!" A commanding voice echoed through the room, drawing everyone's attention.

There was completely silence as everyone turned towards the owner.

Standing in the door way that lead to the weapons room was the leader of the guild, Kratos Aurion. With his arms folded across his chest and a deep frown etched on his face, it didn't take anyone with less than half a brain to know that he was angry.

"If you cannot conduct yourselves in an orderly manner," He glared, "then I will have no choice but to cancel the festivities for Ad Libitum."

That did not sit well with the younger members of the guild. Or at least with the less mature ones.

"You can't do that!" Arche glared back.

"Yeah!" Lloyd agreed, directing an agitated stare at the purple clad man.

"If you continue with this childish behavior, I will." Was Kratos' reply. The tone in his voice stated that this discussion was over.

"Grr..." Arche and Lloyd fumed, shooting dirty looks at him.

The entire time, Altheria and Mormo didn't say a word. It felt too awkward too interrupt.

"Wow..." Mormo whispered, and his partner nodded. It was amazing just how influential Kratos was over the others. You just had to respect a guy like that.

Turning his head towards the entrance, Kratos' red-wine eyes locked with Altheria's rose pink ones and the Descender smiled back. The man unfolded his arms and walked until he was standing just about two feet away.

"...You've returned." He finally said.

Even if she was supposed to be a powerful Descender, she couldn't help but feel intimidated by the human's stare. "Yup!" She chirped.

"I trust there were no problems?"

Altheria cocked her head sideways; frowning a bit. The job he assigned her was that she deliver important documents to Doplund. Normally, messenger birds were used to deliver letters to another city. However, it was too risky to use messenger birds as they could be shot down and the documents would fall into the wrong hands.

The Descender shook her head. "No."

It was a lie. The only sleep she had gotten that week was when Mormo stood guard to make sure she wasn't assaulted by mercenaries paid to retrieve the documents or the dangerous monsters that attacked at night. Not to mention the injury the thief dealt when he tried threatening her into submission.

But it was mission. And with missions usually came injuries, so Altheria found it unnecessary to tell anyone about her getting hurt.

Kratos held her gaze before he sighed. "It would not be in your best interest to lie."

Altheria's frown deepened and she looked away, a manner similar to a child being chided. "...Okay, maybe I did run into a few problems." She admitted reluctantly.

CRASH!

The noise made Altheria jump and Kratos grunt. The two directed their attention towards the source of the noise. Apparently Lloyd had dropped a box while he was stepping up the ladder.

"Aw, crap!" The red swordsman grimaced.

"Lloyd, watch it!" Genis ran up to the tree. "You nearly broke the decorations!"

Kanonno bent down and checked the box. "They're okay!"

"Oh yeah." Mormo blinked. "I'm kinda curious... what's with the tree? We saw one in the plaza but it's so much bigger than the one you have here."

Lloyd made a face at the flying creature. "It's for Christmas of course!"

Altheria cocked her head again. "What's Christmas?" She and Mormo asked at the same time.

At that instant, everyone froze and the two Descenders found themselves the center of attention.

"Um..." Altheria glanced around nervously, afraid that she said something wrong.

"You don't know what Christmas is?" Lloyd's jaw dropped.

Altheria rapidly shook her head and then hid behind Kratos as she waited for the onslaught. She didn't have to wait very long.

"How could you not know what Christmas is?!" Arche shouted, looking completely and utterly pissed.

"Um..." The Descender said weakly.

"Look!" Mormo snorted. "In my world I don't have whatever this Christmas is and Altheria obviously wouldn't know about it because-" Mormo cut himself off and both Kratos and Raine realized that he was going to say something along the lines of, _"Because Altheria was born months ago!" _

"You don't?!" Arche and Lloyd gawked. Reid and Chester looked mildly interested.

"How come?" Reid asked as started eating popcorn. It looked suspiciously like the popcorn that was supposed to be strung on the tree's branches.

"Well... it's not like every world shares the same holiday." Mormo sighed. "Mine, for example, doesn't have this Christmas."

"Come with me!" Arche placed her hands on Altheria's shoulders and began dragging her out the door. "We cannot let this travesty continue!"

"Where are we going?" The Descender yelled in alarm as she tried to get out of the girl's grip. She really didn't feel like going anywhere with Arche because whenever she got herself involved with the pink-haired half elf, it always left Altheria more traumatized than before.

"I'm going to explain to you what Christmas is all about!" By then the two were out the door and there was no chance of escape.

"..." Silence filled the entire room before Mormo turned to the more saner members of Ad Libitum.

"So what _is _Christmas?"

* * *

**Yay, I'm done! What do you think? Hopefully, I can get this done by Christmas. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Hopefully, I can get this done by Christmas. If not, oh well! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Tales series or Tales of the World. I only own the Descender, so now on with the story! **

**

* * *

**

**Chapter 2**

"So you're telling me that you let this fat guy in a red suit break into your house so that he can drop off gifts? Also you give him cookies in return?" Mormo said skeptically after Lloyd was done explaining his version of Christmas and Santa Claus. The Yaoon Descender stared at the others. "Seriously?"

"Hey!" Lloyd protested. "The way you say it makes him sound like a criminal! Santa's not a criminal!"

"Also, 'He knows when you're sleeping, he knows when you're awake' doesn't that sound creepy to you?!" Mormo scoffed. "It makes him sound like he's some sort of creepy stalker!"

"Huh..." Chester joined in on the conversation. "You know, the flying cat is right."

"I keep telling you that I'm not a flying cat!"

Chester ignored Mormo. "There's the whole 'he knows if you've been bad or good' line too."

"Augh! You two are going to get nothing but coal for Christmas!"

"Again Lloyd, Santa doesn't exist."

**************

Altheria could do nothing but stare. She had lost sight of Arche a long time ago within the writhing sea of women and several men as they crowded around a stall that was selling items for fifty percent off. She winced as she watched various people beating each other up as they tried to get one item from another person. She winced again when she saw one of the chefs from the inn get smacked in the jaw by a woman much bigger than him.

Feeling sorry for him, Altheria helped him up.

"Thanks," He said, feeling his jaw to assure himself that it wasn't broken. "Man, it's brutal in there!"

"Why?" Altheria cocked her head to the side. She watched two women rolled around on the ground, screaming at each other while trying to claw out the eyes of the other.

"Well when you mix Christmas shopping, women, and half prices off it generally results in disaster."

"But I pass by here all the time and nothing like this ever happens."

"It's Christmas. What do you expect?"

"Arche told me everyone had to be nice other wise Santa would put them on their naughty list and give them coal."

The man shot the Descender the most incredulous look he had within his arsenal. "Are you serious? That's just folk lore! Everyone but the children know that Santa doesn't exist!"

"He doesn't?" Altheria blinked. "But Arche told me does! He goes around in a sleigh pulled by reindeer and gives gifts to all the good little children!"

"THUNDER BLADE!" Arche's shout jolted Altheria, causing her to whirl around and see what her fellow Ad Libitum member was doing.

She and the chef watched in fascinated horror as a huge purple blade fell from the sky and struck the ground. Nearly everyone within the area was electrocuted and they fell to the ground while Arche went over and grabbed what she wanted.

"Score!" The half-elf announced to the world.

***************

So far, Altheria had wandered from store to store watching Arche go to every bargain sale she could find. And again, she watched as the girl argued and fought with the best of them.

Altheria admired how the girl was able to do it all because, quite frankly, it scared her. Everyone fought like wild monsters over one little item that just cost less than it did every other day. Scratch that. Even the wild monsters were more civil than this!

But even while she admired Arche and her skills when it came to shopping, the Descender wished that Arche wouldn't use her spells so much.

"We're going to get in trouble for this," Altheria told Arche once they escaped from their fourth fiasco. She looked over her shoulder to see the victims of the half-elf's spell and gulped. They were definitely going to get it once Kratos and Raine got their hands on them.

"No we're not! All is fair in the game of Christmas shopping!" Arche threw back her head and laughed. Altheria made sure to put distance between her and the insane spell caster.

"So what's next on the list?" The half-elf asked once she was done laughing.

"It says that we have to get... a book on arcane spells?"

"Alright! To the bookstore we go!"

"PRICES IN MAGICKS 75% PERCENT OFF! COME WHILE SUPPLIES STILL LAST!"

"And I'm off!"

Arche zoomed off immediately on her broom the minute the announcer finished. Altheria had been left behind, and the blonde found herself staring at... something coming at her rapid speed. Altheria's eyes widened as she realized that the 'something' was actually a stampede of shoppers hoping to get to Magicks before the rest of them. She didn't even have time to scream as they trampled over her, leaving their own savior in pain.

"Ow... It hurts..."

***************

As Altheria predicted, Kratos and Raine were waiting for them once they got back. Various shoppers had walked in to the guild complaining about Arche's escapades during her shopping spree and were very vocal about just how angry they were being cheated out of their bargain sale items. The women didn't leave until Kratos reassured them that he'd have a long talk with the half-elf in question as well as Raine threatening them.

But at the moment, Altheria didn't seem to hear. Her gaze was focused on the wall and she seemed to be staring at some unknown force in terror. Her hand would twitch occasionally while she shivered as if it was cold. She knew shopping could be brutal, but she never knew it could be so terrifying either.

"Well I didn't kill anyone, right?" Arche said after Raine's rant was done.

"That's not the point!" Raine snapped. "Not only was using your spells for such situations as irresponsible, you've practically labeled Ad Libitum as a group that abuses their powers and abilities!"

"And where were you when she was doing all this?" Kratos asked, turning to Altheria. He was surprised that the girl hadn't stepped in and intervened when Arche began using her powers for the wrong reasons.

The Descender barely acknowledged him. She just stared back blankly at him and nodded before returning her stare to the wall.

"Altheria?" Kratos tried again. This time she didn't even bother giving any indication she heard.

"Altheria!" Raine said, taking a step towards her. "Did you even hear-?"

The Professor didn't even get to finish her sentence. Altheria jumped as if someone electrocuted her before she crouched on her knees and flung her hands over head. "DON'T COME ANY CLOSER!" She shouted, trembling.

"Ah..." Raine said, blinking.

"..."

"Geez..."

"I'll give it to you! I'll give it to you! Just put down the staff! Ah! STAMPEDE!!"

The two adults turned to Arche for an explanation.

"She might have gotten in the way of a sale and a crowd." The half-elf shrugged.

"SO...MANY... PEOPLE! ARCHE!! MOM!!"

Raine threw Arche a dirty look before bending down and muttering words of comfort to the sobbing Descender.

* * *

**I told you she was going to get traumatized, didn't I? **


End file.
